March 14, 1993
My father's name was William Carl Rigtrup and my mother's name was Dolly P. Holt. They were both born and raised in Spanish Fork.
My mother died when I was only ten days old, she was only 40 years old. She had complications with my birth. She came from a small family. She only had one brother. (William Holt) The only things that I know about my mother is the things that my sisters have told me. They said that she had a beautiful voice. She was always singing at someone's funeral. From the pictures that I have seen of her, I believe that she looks like my sister Dolly. She had red hair and was a pleasant looking woman.
The Rigtrup's came from Denmark, three males and three females. On the road from Missouri to Salt Lake, the father and one son died from small pox. .This left the mother and two daughters and one son. This son was the one that carried on the Rigtrup name, his name was Hans Rigtrup.
Hans Rigtrup and his wife had three sons and two daughters. The youngest boy, George Rigtrup and my grandfather (Hans) went into Wyoming to homestead a piece of ground. They wanted to make a living off from selling cattle. They had to take some cattle up with them to start this herd. They had some tough times. One year they had a ruff winter that killed almost 90% of the herd. They stuck it out, building up the herd again. After spending 20 years up in that country, my grandfather being 80 years old wanted to come back to Spanish Fork to be buried here. They sold the ranch and the cattle for 350,000. George and his wife took care of my grandfather and when he died it was in their home. Most of my grandfather's estate was left to this youngest son. I know that my father was a little upset about that.
While my grandfather and George were in Wyoming, my father worked on the railroad. He earned a dollar a day. He lived with his mother taking care of her. She had poor health and couldn't go to Wyoming with my grandfather. My father kept the house and helped with her needs. At this time the rest of the brothers and sisters had left home, so he was left to help her. He stayed with her until she died.
My father could speak some of the Danish language. He learned it from his mother. He taught me some of these words, but I can't remember any of them now. My father taught me how to work on the farm and how to construct buildings. He was handy with his hands. My father was a farmer, he liked to work the ground to make a living for his family. He worked hard and for long hours. He never took the time to do any hunting or fishing. He was an honest man and liked to help others that were in need. He always paid his debts. He was a happy man and took life as it came. He seldom lost his temper. He had to have his index finger amputated because he got infection in it from a sliver. I knew that my father loved me, but he never told me. Because of this I have a hard time showing my feelings for my family as well. My dad didn't have too much to do with sports until he became older, had lost his second wife, and had moved to Spanish Fork. He then loved to go to the ball park, which was only a block away and watch the ball games.
He was active in the church. He served a mission, but served it after he was married. They had four children when he went. He went to Missouri for two years. He borrowed $2,000.00 from the bank to go. He had good enough credit, so the bank willingly borrowed him the money. It took him ten years to pay back the money.
My mother and the rest of the family stayed home. They lived in a home that my father had built for them when they first got married. My parents were given a small piece of ground next to my grandmother Holt's and their first home was built next to her.
After my mother died, the kids all stayed with my grandmother Holt. (My grandfather was dead and I know very little about him.) My grandmother's name was Dolly Percilla Holt. She was a very kind and loving person. She had chickens when she was younger and she would sell eggs to help with the expenses of her family. She loved to take care of her home and loved to be in the garden. She was active in the church, being Relief Society president for 40 years. I don't know if anyone has ever served that long in that position, She served in the 1st ward in Spanish Fork. She always took me with her, so my attendance was in good standing. She would take me in a basket. I always had women approaching me telling me that they remember me when I would attend Relief Society with my grandmother.
My father worked and used that money to help with the expenses of us kids. My grandmother helped to raise us until he married again.
In 1916, two years after my mother's death, my father got married again. Her name was Ethel. She was tall, thin, with brown hair. She was a religious woman who liked to go to church, but when we would come home we would always fight. I would leave the house at those times, because I didn't like to hear her tearing down the rest of my family. She got mad easy and stayed mad for a long time. She couldn't have any children of her own so she took a fancy to me. She favored me, she bought me clothes and had pictures taken of me. She let the other kids know that they weren't wanted. She was a clean woman and a good cook. She loved to make pies and cakes. She had good health all of her life, then she got sugar diabetes and that is what she died of.
She destroyed my family. We were al1 close and she did everything in her power to destroy that relationship. I would have to sneak away and go to my grandmothers house to see my sisters. When dad married her, he bought a home (1st South 2nd West) 8 blocks away from my grandmother's home. The street we lived on was called "Hell Street". Everyone that lived on that street was mean and raised hell, and my step mother was one of them.
My father had bought Ann a pretty dress for graduation. She had it in her room. She left the room and when she came back the dress had been tore up. Ethel was always doing something mean to one my sisters. She also put lye in my sister face powder. I feel that she was doing mean things to them because she wanted them to leave. She was jealous of them. I didn't know this was going on until after Ethel died and my sisters told me of these mean things that she did to them. Some times when she would get into these mean moods, I would have night mares.
My dad felt bad about this marriage. The girls told him what was going on, he was disgusted about it, but he never did anything about it. Caroline never lived with us. When dad got married, she stayed with my grandmother. When the other girls turned 16 they would move out and move in with my grandmother until they got married. That is just what Ethel wanted.
My brother and I in our later lives decided that we couldn't blame Ethel for all the hell that she put our family through. We felt that she had problems that we didn't know about, something that happened to her in her early life, or something that was really bothering her. Carl said that he felt that we needed to forgive her, because we didn't know the full story of her life.
At this time (1917) my father was homesteading some ground on the west side of the West Mountain. They would take a team of horses, their provisions, and leave for a week at a time. We called this Sucker Flats, we had to pack our water down there too. It would take them all day to go down there, it was about 14 miles. They would go down and work this ground that he had. I don't think that my father wanted to make waves with Ethel because he needed her to take care of the family back in Spanish Fork.
I was only four years old at this time, so I didn't go with my dad, my brother and sisters. They would all go down there and plow and plant the ground. We would only go down there in the summer months. When it was time for school to start they would come back to our Spanish Fork home. When I got a little older we all went down there even my step mother. We lived in a cheap two room home. We lived right by the lake, so when the chores were done all the kids would go fishing. We caught catfish and suckers, they were plentiful. Dad soon dug a 10 foot well. We rocked up the sides and the top. We had a wench with a bucket on it that we would pull up the water. When we watered the ground the well would always be full because the water would seep down into the ground.
When I was about 10 years old. My dad bought a Ford car for $500.00. He drove the car around the mountain while I would drive the team and the wagon. I had a good team of horses that I drove. Many times I could run along side of these horses because they knew the way to go, and they could do it on their own. We raised hay on this ground, so we would be able to bring back a load of hay to feed the animals that we had in town.
Two years later people came around the mountain and put up stills to make whiskey. These people were considered outlaws and the cops were out to get them. At that time you couldn't buy whiskey because it was made illegally and some of it was made on the other side of the mountain. Our neighbor, Sam Alton had a still. He wasn't making much money farming, so he decided he wanted to make some easy money making whiskey. Dad was in town one day and overheard some of the federal cops talking about a raid that they were going to make around on the mountain. Dad made his trip short and went back around the mountain to warn our neighbor. They dumped the still and the malt in the Lake. This neighbor had a wife and two kids down there with him, so it wouldn't have been good for him to go to jail.
Money was hard to get, my dad was the type that was very energetic and always thinking of ways to earn some money. One year he raised some turkeys down on the west mountain. We had a lot of grasshoppers; those turkeys got really fat eating them. In the fall we dressed them out, put them in the Ford car, and took them to Salt Lake where we sold them. We would go to a restaurant and ask the owner if they would want to buy any? When they would see them and how good they looked, we could always sell them. We had about 150 turkeys. We did that 20 years before they started the turkey business in Moroni.
Another year we raised 200 pigs on that ground. We fattened them up. We had a granary there stored with grain. We would soak this grain in water and feed it to these pigs. This would fatten them up. When they were ready to be slaughtered, we had to drive them by foot around the mountain and up to the railroad station. We had no trucks in those days, so we had to drive them. Dad and Carl rode horses and I drove the team of horses with the feed for the pigs and all of our supplies. It took us two days to drive those pigs. Instead of going around the point of the mountain, we went over the side hills. We had good luck. We traveled to the Heber Clayson ranch the first day (west end of Lake Shore). There was a drizzling rain that first day, so we were all soaked. Heber Clayson let us put our pigs in his corrals for the evening so we could feed them. His wife took us two boys into the house, fed us, helped us to get our clothes dry, and got us warm. The next morning we started again. Farmers all had fences in those days, so the pigs went right up the road. That afternoon we reached the train station; a train came along and whistled. That sent those pigs crazy; they went every direction they could. It took us a day and a half to gather them up again. We found them as far as Palmyra. We gathered them up, got them on a train and sent them to Los Angeles to sell. We only lost one or two of those pigs.
At that time on the point of the mountain, they had a small resort called Lincoln Beach. They had a pavilion, a store, and a nice swimming pool. There was a warm spring of water there that they pumped into the pool. I remember when they would even have horse races and car races down there. They had some good times there. They even had orchestra's come down for dances. Those that had stills at that time even made a little money. There were those that liked to buy a bottle of booze, get drunk, and have a good time. This was destroyed a few years later by some ice bergs on the lake.
My oldest sister is Caroline, she lived with my grandmother most of her life. She is 10 years older than me. She was a telephone operator and helped with the expenses that my grandmother had, especially when the rest of the girls started moving in with them. She married Bob Olsen, he died at a young age. She had two boys and four girls.
Ann is my next sister. She took care of me when I was a baby. She is 8 years older than me. Ann moved out of the house when she was about 10 years old. She was very quiet, calm, and reserved. She later married a cowboy and he roamed all over the country. His best friend was a bottle of whiskey. He was a hard worker. When he would follow the rodeo, she would stay at home in Washington where she eventually bought a home and raised her family. She had a hard life, divorced her husband and raised her family on her own. She had four boys and no girls.
Dolly is my next sister. She was a pretty, well liked girl. She loved to sing, just like my mother. She married a Payson man and he too was a drunk. He died of Alcohol. She had two children. Dad helped her, but she got work easy and was able to provide for her and her family. She remarried Joe Reese. They moved to American Fork.
Carl was the next to be born. He is four years older than me. He rebelled with the things that my dad tried to tell him. He moved in with my grandmother not only because my step mother drove him out, but because he didn't get along too well with my father. Dad worked him too hard, he said. He was a little smaller in stature than me. We didn't get along very well when we were younger. Most parents would encourage brothers and sisters to get along, but our step mother didn't want that type of harmony in our home. He was 16 years old when he moved out. He favored Ann. When she got married and moved to Washington, he followed them. He got work up there and later married. He served in World War II.
Carl was the one that gave me the nick name of Jim. We had a good neighbor, his name was Jim Finch. I think that the name was given to me because we all liked him so much.
I started school when I was six. I went to the Thurber School. (It is now the city office building) I only lived two blocks from the school, so we walked. I had a hard time with school; my step mother wasn't educated so she never helped me with my studies. My father was too busy, so he couldn't help me either. I disliked school until I went into the Junior High. It was at this time that I was more encouraged with school and I started to do better with my school work. Geography and Arithmetic were some of my favorite subjects. Spelling, reading and English were some of my poorest subjects.
Ray Hales was one of my best friends, he was a little on the backwards side just as I was, so we got along well.
I had no time to play after school. I had to go home and do chores, either feed the chickens, pigs, or milk the cows. My work was always outlined for me, so there was no time for play. I was the only one left at home at that time, so most of the chores were left up to me. Carl would help dad on the farm. We lived two blocks west of main street, on the edge of town. This was where I did the chores. The house we lived in was a four room home. Two bedrooms, front room and a kitchen. We had an outside toilet, we did have running water. We had a coal stove, no gas or electricity. I lived in this house until I was 17 years old. Dad then bought a ranch on the west end of Lake Shore, where Jess Shepherd now lives.
I like to play ball. Every free chance I got, we would get a bunch of kids together and have a game out on the road.
I loved to visit my grandmother. She always had a cake, a cookie, or something to eat. She was always happy to see us and we all felt the same about her.
Dad had bought Carl and I a bicycle. Not many kids had bicycles in those days. I don't know how my dad could afford to buy one, but he got it for us two boys. My grandmother lived on a hill, one day when I was on my way home from my grandmothers, the chain got caught in the back wheel and it threw me up in the air and I landed on my head. I laid there unconscious on the side of the road. The Barney family picked me up and took me into their home until I came to. I received a nasty bruise on the back of my neck and to this day I still have a lump on the back of my neck.
In the middle of Spanish Fork, there was an old Orem Track. It went as far as Payson to Salt Lake. This was used as the main transportation.
One year at Christmas, I remember all the neighbor kids got something. When I got up, I found a little sack of coal in my stocking. I was about seven years old. I was really depressed about this and it is one thing that I will never forget. My father just grinned and laughed at me, he thought that it was funny, but it hurt me terrible.
I went to the doctor or the dentist once in a while for a toothache. They didn't have anything in those days to numb or kill the pain when you had to have a tooth pulled or drilled. That was one of the meanest experiences that I had, was with the dentist. Dad would usually go with me and hold me down. I was basically healthy, once in a while I would get a cold. We had very little medication, so I would usually take some hot lemonade.
When I was small we had a neighbor by the name of George Newitt. He had been married twice, two children with each wife. He was meaner than hell with those kids. I thought that I was treated ruff, but his kids were treated 10 times worse than I was. This made me feel less sorry for myself. When those kids all moved out, he happened to be all alone. I stopped one day and talked to him, he started to cry saying that none of his kids would come to visit him. I thought to myself, "You dumb old dummy, you were so mean to them, no wonder they don't want nothing to do with you".
I had very little to do with music when I was growing up. I had an uncle, my mothers' brother, Will Holt. He was a music teacher in the High School. He use to play the violin. My grandson likes to play the violin also, I can't help to think that he got some of this talent from my mother's side of the family.
I only went to the 11 grade. One day my friends and I decided to play hooky. One of my friends stole his mothers car and we went for a joy ride, needless to say we got caught. The principal told my dad that he ought to take that boy down on the farm and work him, so I quit school. I went to the old High School on Main Street, where the school offices are now. I had one favorite teacher, Jim Anderson. He was a gym teacher. I liked to play basketball and he liked that. I was handy with my hands, I would make my friends mad because I could take the ball away for them without them realizing it was gone. I was a good basketball player.
When I quit school, my father had ventured into the chicken business, I was very interested in it too. We had two chicken coops at that time with about 1000 chickens. I wanted to take over the chicken business, my dad let me. I took care of the chickens and he did the farming. He let me have 1/4 of the profit from the chickens. We had a good crop of sugar beets that year. The day after we harvested that crop of beets the stock market fell. We got 012.00 a ton for those beets, the next year they only wanted to pay us $6.00 a ton. The farmers were very discouraged. When that depression hit, 1928, everything came to a stand still, you couldn't sell anything. If you sold it you took a loss. That year we sold eggs for 14 cents a dozen, that didn't even pay for the feed bill. We would get 6 or 7 cents a pound for pigs. You couldn't sell a cow. The government would tell the farmers to thin out their herds. The government would give them $20.00 for Bach' cow that they would give to the buy products, to make meat meal. There was no demand for beef.
I never worked for anyone else, I worked for my dad or for myself. At one time, we grew some early potatoes on the west mountain. We never had the hard frost down there like we did up this way, so we could grow these potatoes early and mature them and bring them to Spanish Pork and sell them. I use to have a route that I would travel with a little red wagon. I would carry six, 10 pound sacks of potatoes and when they were gone I would come back and fill that wagon up again. I would visit doctors and lawyers and they would buy these fresh potatoes. They were good potatoes and people were always eager to buy them. That's where I learned how to handle money. Dad would always give me a little of that money.
I was also a member of the Future Farmers. I raised some beef on the side. I raised three or four at a time. I would exhibit them at the State Fair. Sometimes we would take them into Ogden, once into San Francisco. I took reserve champion with that calf. It was a Derman calf, fat as butter. I sold that calf and got 26 cents a pound for it. At that time beef was only selling for 8 cents a pound. I made $150.00 on that calf. I took the money and put it in the bank and saved it.
We had two good banks in Spanish Fork, Bank of Spanish Fork and the Commercial Bank. When this depression hit, the people rushed to the banks and took their money out and horded it. 50% of the banks went broke. Our two banks stayed in business. There was a bank in Payson and Springville that went broke and closed their Doors. I had a bank account at that time. I had $150.00 in this bank, my dad encouraged me to leave it there.
My dad had saved some of the money from that good beet crop. My dad bought a two year old Model A Ford. We used that car to travel from town to the farm in the west end of Lake Shore. After we had used it for a couple of years, my dad gave it to Carl and myself. My dad could tell that we wouldn't get along with this car, so he gave Carl $150.00 to go to Salt Lake and get himself a car.
I was sixteen years old at that time, you didn't have to have a drivers license in those days. Not many kids had cars in those days. (1932) I didn't show off in this car, I never had any problems with the cops. I have always liked the Ford cars, and to this day I feel that they are one of the best cars built. The worst automobile that I have ever had is a dodge truck.
Gas was only 20 cents a gallon, you could go about 20 miles on one gallon. We would go to the dances in that car. Arrowhead, was the place that we usually went. They had a nice swimming pool and a dance floor. Every Saturday night that's where most of the kids went. The cost was only a $1.00 and that included you and the girl that you would take. We also had dances in the schools that we were all eager to attend. It was on these occasions that we would meet girls.
It was at this time I became acquainted with Bernice. She was a little girl that stood to the side, I took notice of her. When I was going to High School and walking home, I would pass the 2nd Ward church. (Spanish Fork) That was a place where the Junior high students would gather to meet the bus. Bernice was four years younger than myself, so she would meet the bus there. This was when I first noticed her, later I seen her at a social at the Lake Shore Church. I had a good feeling about her, I believe that I treated her nice and decent. When I first kissed her, I knew that there was something about her that I really liked. She liked to go with me, and I believe the reason was because I had a car.
I dated a few girls in my school days, but I soon found out that farm boys and city girls don't mix. In those days a farm boy had to seek out a girl that was also raised on the farm. Farm girls were easier to get along with. I dated a couple of girls at that time, Bernice and a girl named Myrl Crump, but I soon dated Bernice only.
Bernice’s father seemed to like me. I think that he wanted someone that could give her a home because at that time she didn't have a stable home. My dad never said too much about our relationship. He did say that he thought that she was too small for me.
I dated Bernice for two years. When we got engaged, we were married two months later. We had a lot in common, we both liked the same things. She was willing to do a lot of the things that I wanted to do. Bernice would talk to me, she wanted respect, and I gave it to her.
When I decided I wanted to get married, I started thinking about building a home. I got along well with my sister's husband, Ted Simmons. He was out of work at the time and went with me up to Eureka. I bought a house, tore it down, and brought the material down here to Lake Shore with the intention of building a home. I also asked him to go with me to Salt Lake to buy a diamond for Bernice. I bought it for $100.00. I didn't show it to my dad or anyone. My intentions were to give it to her for Christmas. When I gave her this ring, I put the law down to her that she wasn't going to take it off and let anyone wear it. In those days it was an expensive ring. It was hard for her friends to believe that she got a real diamond. They wanted her to go to the jewelry store and check to see if it was real, but she never did.
I started building this home in January. It was a year when we had no snow, just a little rain. We had good weather so we had good luck building this home. Horace Jex, her dad, and Ted Simmons helped me build this home. I soon found out that I didn't know as much as I thought about building this home, so I hired a carpenter. I hired him for 03.50 a day. He helped me for two months putting up the frame, shingling it, and plastering the walls on the inside. It was a four room home, but we only completed two rooms. We had no water, so we had to pack the water. The toilet was outside, we had no conveniences.
The morning that I went to pick Bernice up to go to the temple and get married, she didn't seem to be willing, she hung back as if she was scared. I guess she knew that when she left her sister's home, she wouldn't be returning.
We went to the temple with Bernice’s brother and his wife and family. They had been previously married, but they were now ready to go to the temple. When we got out of the temple, John's kids decided that they wanted to go with us instead of their parents. Their dad had to get mean with them and let them know that they weren't going with us. We went to the New House Hotel and that was the first night that we spent together as husband and wife. The next morning we went down town. I seen a place where they were selling appliances, I asked Bernice to stay in the car because I didn't want her to know what I had on my mind. I went into this store and bought a nice little portable radio. She was peeved that I left her there, but when I came back I told her that it was a wedding gift for her. She had never had anything like that before.
Later that day we went to gingham to visit her sister Bertha. Her husband worked in the mines there. Bernice had wrote and told her sister that she was going to get married. She invited us to come and stay with them the following night.
The following evening we stayed with my dad and his wife. We only stayed there for a couple of nights waiting for the plaster in the home that I was building to dry. We went to a furniture store with my dad and step mother. We bought a stove, a bed, bedding, and a dinette set. When we got these things into the home, we decided to move into the home regardless if the plaster was dry or not.
We were in the depression at this time. There were a lot of people out of work, and work was hard to find. A neighbor of mine, Allen Francis, just got married and was one of these that couldn't find a job. I asked him to come and help me build a chicken coop.
He was eager to work. I gave him $3.00 a day to help me. I was only making About $20.00 a week at that time, so I couldn't afford to have him work very much. I could still sell my eggs at that time. I would sell them to the poultry and they would put them on a train that would take them to New York. There was always a market for farm products.
When we got married, we got along really well. We did have some hard times. We had to pack our water at first. We learned to live with what we had. I believe that I was content and happy.
When I started to build this home, I owed for the lumber, I was able to pay off the carpenter and the furniture we put on time. The money that I earned now came from the chicken business I had. I sold eggs to the Utah Poultry plant in Spanish Fork. I sold the eggs there and was able to purchase the chicken feed there as well. We were getting about 40 cents a dozen for eggs at that time and it was giving me a nice little profit. I had decided that I wanted to go into the chicken business by myself. I wanted to be my own boss and to make a living for myself and my family. I worked with my dad for about six months after we got married. I had built a coop and was brooding the chickens. We had an under ground furnace to heat the building for these chickens. The furnace had a fireplace on the outside of the building. A tunnel ran under the ground where the fire smoke came out into a chimney. This chimney run for a distance in the coop, this helped to keep the building warm. I would brood about 1000 pullets at a time. My dad would let me have half of these chickens if I would brood them in this building. That helped me to get a start in the chicken business. Dad purchased all the feed and the chickens at that time. We would separate the chickens, keeping the pullets for laying and selling the roosters for fryers. Utah Poultry would send down a truck to pick up these roosters and take them to a packing plant, where they would be killed and dressed for fryers.
The chicken coops were about 30 feet long and 40 feet wide. The chickens were all on the floor in one big pen. We had about 1000 chickens in a pen. When they got bigger we would have to take half of them out and put into another coop. We had a lot of problems with diseases. One of these diseases was an intestinal disease called cirioses. We didn't know how to treat it, sometimes we would loose about 5%. It only attacked the smaller birds.
I was continually building chicken coops, I would just get one paid off and I would start another. I had six big chicken coops on the farm on the west end of Lake Shore. I was also in the hatching business. I also bought a 160 acre farm, 30 acres were good for farming. I paid $3,000.00 for this farm. My dad helped me buy it. I raised a lot of the grain that I needed to feed my chickens. We made the most profit on our eggs in the fall and around the holidays.
I had my eye on a piece of ground up in the middle of Lake Shore. It was called the Joe Adamson farm. Lawrence Tuckett had bought it from him. I wanted this ground because the farm that I was on was not convenient for people to come down to buy baby chickens. This land was on a main highway and the telephone was here too. The electricity was better up there also. I seen Lawrence Tuckett bringing some gravel up on this ground. He was going to start him a home, I got excited, jumped into my car and went to talk to him. I told him that I would make him the deal of his life, I would give him 160 acres of ground for the 10 acres that he now owned. Lawrence didn't hesitate, he took my offer. Lawrence wanted the ground to raise sheep, he didn't like this 10 acres because it had a lot of morning glory and seed weed on it. We traded straight across for the ground. I made a good profit on the ground that I got, but Lawrence went into the sheep business on his ground and went broke in two years.
I started to build a home on these 10 acres. I had saved enough money that I could start a home. The day we moved into it, it was paid for. It cost me $5,000.00 to build it.
We lived on the other farm for 10 years before we moved up here. I kept that farm for two years before I sold it. I still had chickens down there. That farm was only a two acre farm. It had a four room home, a well, garage, and two chicken coops left on the farm. We sold it for $7,500.00. We had a tough time getting our money. We finally had to hire a lawyer to get it. The Coombs now own this home and they have added on to it and doubled it in size. The Cornaby's now own the 160 acres.
We moved in our new home on November 9th. Bernice was pregnant with our fourth daughter (Jean). Before I sold the other farm, I went down there and tore down four of those chicken coops and rebuilt them on this new farm. At this time I was working 16 hours a day, I was big and strong, I had enthusiasm, and I wanted to get ahead. When we lived on the west end, we had about 3.000 chickens. After living here, we expanded to about 15,000. The coops we built were now double-decker coops, two story high, cinder blocks, with wood roofs. Elaine and Deanna would help me build these coops. We worked together; the more we worked together the better we got along. Those two could work better than some of the carpenters that I would hire. We only had these type of coops for about five years. I had three of them and I tore them down, they would work me to death cleaning them. I built coops that were only one layer high. We put roost in the center of the coops, about two feet high. Under this roost we had a heavy cable and a scraper attached to it. We would pull the manure out of these coops info' a pit at the end of the coop and from there load it into a truck and haul it off. It was a lot better than shoveling the manure by hand. I used this same lumber three times to rebuild these coops. There were years when we made enough money in the chicken business, that I could build a $25,000.00 chicken coop and pay for it that year. We had to modernize the farm and put in electric waters, feeders, and cages. They were expensive coops, but we could raise more chickens with not as much work.
The second year that we lived on this farm, the chicken's came down with chicken pox. We weren't doing much vaccinating at this time. We lost about 25% of our chickens. Their eyes would swell and they couldn't see to eat, or they would have it in their mouths and they would choke to death. It got so bad for us that I had to go to the neighbors and top beets. Bernice and the girls had to stay home and take care of the chickens. I dug a large hole and we would throw all the dead chickens into it. The next year we recovered and started to do better.
I decided that I didn't like the way intermountain farmers was making my feed. They had an old fellow that went to college in agriculture that made their feed. He made the feed out of brand and barley, a high fiber food. We decided to build our own mill. I contracted two fellows to build me two cement silo's that I could store grain in. I bought grain from the farmers and truckers in other states. I wanted to use a lot of corn in my feed, it helped the chickens produce better eggs. I was able to make my own feed cheaper and the chickens did better with it. Eventually all the chicken farmers in Utah quit IFA and started making their own feed. It wasn't long before we stopped selling our eggs there too. There were too many middle men, our profit was going to them. Eggs have always gone up and down in price. We've had bad times and good times in the chicken business, but we made a good living in the chicken business.
Our first child was Elaine. She was born in a hospital. She~ was a little curly, dark haired girl that was very talented. When she grew up she could do anything. At that time we lived in the original part of the two room home. We weren't married very long before Elaine came along. (Nine months) I did save a little money for the birth because we knew that it would cost a little. I think that it cost about 350.00 to have her. She slept in our room in a basket. Bernice was young to have a baby, but she handled it well. She was in labor 35 hours with her. We had a good doctor that treated us well and was good with Bernice. My father gave her a name and a blessing.
All the family liked Elaine, she was a pretty little gal, easy to raise. Elaine resembles her mother. She was smart, and would get along well with the other kids. She had a talent with music. When she got a little older we bought her an electric guitar. She was an exceptionally good guitar player. She didn't have many things to play with when she was little. We did buy her a doll, but not much more. She always worked with me and her mother, she helped us gather the eggs. In fact she did about anything that we asked her to do.
I tried to teach her that the family was the most important part of her life and that she was a part of our family. We tried to teach her to live with what we had. She didn't require a lot of unnecessary things.
Deanna was our second child to be born. She was born at home. At that time, I had completed another room on our home. One of the neighbors, Mrs. Dimick, came and helped Bernice until the doctor arrived. Deanna was given her name from a singer that we enjoyed listening to on the radio. Deanna was also easy to raise. She was a little larger in stature. Her and Elaine were always good to help me in the chicken business. I felt that Deanna resembled me and my family more than she did Bernice’s family. She was smart and did well in her studies. She got along well with others. She was tall and strong enough that no one ever picked on her.
At this time World War II was going on. Every young man from 18 to 30 years old had a number issued to them. We had to go to Spanish Fork before a committee to see if we were chosen to go to war. At that time I had a hernia and I was producing food for the war effort, so I was classified as 4F. Everything was scarce, we were issued an allotment of sugar, gas, and many of our food products. Geneva Steel was being built; that helped to start the prosperity in Utah County. Before that, it was hard to find a job. We were always able to earn a little money, so it wasn't hard on us to have our children.
Alene was our third daughter. At this time we had completed the fourth room on the house, had an indoor toilet, and a bath. When Alene was born, she was a little red head. She was a nice little girl with very little hair until she was two years old. She was easy to get along with and made friends easy. The three girls got along with each other and stuck up for each other. Alene also took to music, she played the accordion and played it well. They say that I had red hair when I was a baby, so I believe that she took after my family. Alene was a smart little girl, she had more friends than the rest of the girls.
When Alene was about four years old, we moved to the home that we now live in. I did most of the work on this home by myself. I couldn't hire any young men because they were all in the service. I had to hire men that were older. Jean was born at this time. She was a pretty little girl and pleasant to be around. When she went to school she did well in her studies and got along well with others. She was the one that wanted to be around the family. We sent her to Provo to the BYU to go to school, but she was always homesick and tickled to death to come home.
Jim was the last one to be born. Jim was born in the hospital. It was lucky that we went to the hospital because Bernice had problems with his birth. The placenta came out before the baby, we almost lost both of them. They were in the hospital for seven or eight days. I was happy to finally have a boy and I did some bragging about his birth. We named him after me, my nickname is Jim, so he was given that name. I favored him a little more than I did the girls. I liked to play ball with him, he was healthy, strong, and fast when he played any type of ball. He was talented with the sports that he played in. I believe that he resembles me more than anyone else. He did well in school, but he didn't do as well as the girls did. He joined the National Guard and served with them for five or seven years. He had a girl friend at this time, but when he returned home from his army training he didn't want anything to do with her. She was too pushy and forward with him, so Bernice and I weren't too upset when he broke up with her. The army taught him a lot, I believe that he found out that his family and home was the best thing that he had. He then started in the chicken business with me as a partner. He wasn't interested in going to college, he thought that it would be a waste of time and money to send him. I think that he learned from me that he wanted to be his own boss and earn and do for his own family like I have for mine. I taught all my kids to be honest. Jim had no desire to go on a mission and I felt that he should make this decision on his own.
All my kids have been good to work with me and help me when ever I have asked them. I feel that we have accomplished a lot and I don't feel that I could have accomplished ~as much as I did without all of their help. I feel that I have had a lot of ambition in my life and I feel that my children have all inherited that from me. Their partners have been that way as well. When ever I started something, I always finished it. There were times that we were set back on our hind legs, but we never gave up, we always finished what we set out to accomplish. We tried many different breeds of chickens, some of them didn't work, some did. I feel that I have grown from all the things that I have accomplished in my life. I don't think that I would change anything, because I feel that I have benefited from all that I have seen and done. I always wanted to improve in the chicken business. If we needed to tear down a coop to improve it, I never hesitated to do it, and it always paid off.
I worked on the farm, but I really didn't enjoy it. When I started to build and expand in the chicken business, that was where I really enjoyed and found out what I wanted to do for my life's occupation. I enjoyed hatching chickens, I made more of a profit with it than I did selling eggs. I could always see something better that I could do that would help me to make money and prosper with my family. I never considered myself well to do but we are in good financial shape. The biggest success that I feel that I have had in my life is that of raising my five children. They are the example I have of, "They're the best things I have had in my life".
Bud Shepherd was one of the first men that I hired in the chicken business. He started with me when he was about 15 years old. His dad died and his mother was a widow and was having a hard time providing for her family. I knew Bud's brothers and admired them, so I decided to hire him. I feel that I taught him a lot, especially in the chicken business. He ended up marrying my oldest daughter. When he decided to go out into the chicken business on his own, I helped him as much as I could. My third daughter's husband, Leon Zeeman, also worked with us. He too went on his own and started his own chicken business. Mark Peterson, my fourth daughter's husband also is in the chicken business. He is still working with Jim and they are both doing well in the business.
In 1971 my son in laws and myself decided to go into business with a new chicken ranch. We built one chicken coop that held 30,000 chickens. On April 1st, that coop collapsed with the weight of a heavy snow storm. The trusses were to weak to hold the weight. That was one of the most disturbing things that has ever happened to me. A few years later another coop was built down there. One evening the power went off and three fourths of the chickens suffocated. It was a hard knock for all of us and it took some time for us to recover. It wasn't long before the partnership was dissolved and me and Jim bought out the rest of the partners. On another occasion, the Lake filled up and flooded these same coops.
My first trip on a train was on the Old Orem, (a train that traveled from Spanish Fork to Salt Lake) that went down the middle of Spanish Fork. My step mother took me to Salt Lake for conference. I was only about six years old, we went to conference in the tabernacle and we returned on the same train. My first airplane trip was to a chicken convention. Since then we have traveled many times all over the United States to these chicken conventions. It was on these trips that we got our information and encouragement in the chicken business. On one occasion, we hit a thunder storm and the airplane was forced down into Lincoln, Nebraska. This was a propeller airplane, the plane hit some air pockets and I know that we would drop about 500 feet at a time. On another occasion, we went to Atlanta, Georgia. That city is not use to ice and snow. We were stranded, the city went dead and no one dared to drive. They didn't have any equipment to clear the roads. We thought that this wasn't going to be such a great vacation, but the following day the sun came out and we continued with our vacation.
I enjoy traveling because I'm interested in what's going on in the world. One of the trips that I really enjoyed was a trip down to the Bahamas's. We flew down to Miami, Florida and then to the Bahamas's. We got into a taxi and the darn thing went backwards (wrong side of the road) to what we were use to. It was a nice vacation. I have never gone to Hawaii, and that is one place that I have always wanted to go.
One of the old programs that we use to enjoy on the radio was A1 Jolson. He used to sing and perform. He came into Provo on one occasion and performed at the old Paramount theater. They had an old organ that they used for music. It was something that we had never seen before and something that I will always remember. It was about this time that television was introduced.
I have always tried to be honest in everything that I have done. My father was the same way, and he helped to instill that into my life as well. My grandmother, Caroline Holt Evans was a very religious women and she taught that to all her children and I feel that has come down from generation to generation.
When we first got married I felt that I was too busy to go to church, eventually I changed. My little wife wanted to pay tithing and after a while she wanted to pay a full tithing. She convinced me that when we did, we would reap a harvest from it, and we did. Religion has played a big role in our family. Our marriage in the temple when we first got married, was the starting stone for our family. I feel that we have been blessed many times because of that first stepping stone.
I feel that I have changed in my life. When I was younger I didn't have time to go to church, but now I feel the need to go with my neighbors and attend church. I think that I am more considerate now to others. I have looked up to the prophets that we have had. I have enjoyed listening to the conferences and especially to the prophets when they have talked to us.
One year Bernice and I went back to New York to a poultry convention. We rented a car and went to the sacred grove. Deanna was with us, but we were having some trouble with the car so she stayed back to see if she could get the car fixed. A young man passed us, he was a good looking fellow. Deanna soon came behind us and we asked her if she had seen this man. She told us that there was no one in the grove. We told her that there was and that young man came right up next to us and he was smiling at us. I felt that this fellow was a missionary and he was smiling at us and letting us know that we were going to have many young grandsons that would some day go on missions.
I think that a women belongs in the home raising her family. Bernice has always been home with our family. She helped me in the poultry business, but never went to work for anyone else. The children always went to her for help and advice and then they would come to me for approval.
When we first got married, we were both equal in our education. Bernice was good in writing, arithmetic and reading, I was good in geography, arithmetic and history.
We got our first telephone when we moved to the main part of Lake Shore. We couldn't have one on the west end of Lake Shore. That was one of the reasons that we moved up here, I felt that if we had a telephone I could improve my business with selling baby chickens. At that time we had a party line. The telephone wasn't used that much. We didn't sit on the telephone and gab like they do now.
When I was younger we never had electric stoves, we had coal stoves. We didn't have an inside toilet, most of them were outside. I always wanted a TV, but we had to wait a few years after they came out before we bought one. We bought it on time and it was in black and white, no color. It was about a 13 inch TV.
One of the first wonder drugs that came out was sulphur. They thought that it could cure everything, but it seemed to cause some problems with some people. Antibiotics came next and they have really improved them in the last few years.
I have never had any prejudice against anyone but the Japanese. I resented them because of the war. I also resented the Korean people too. We used them to *** our chickens, they were a demanding group of people and we had to do a lot to get along with them.
I admired President Roosevelt. The way he ran the government and brought the country out of the depression. He helped to make the country a better place for all of us.
I feel that we have had a good marriage, I think that we have thought alike and we like to do the same things. We have had a unity in our marriage. We don't have many differences. She is little and I am big. We've had our conflicts, but when we do we just stop talking and it goes away. Some of the biggest disagreements we have had has been over me building more chicken coops. We've never argued to the extent that we've wanted to separate or get a divorce. We've always enjoyed music. I like some of the big bands that played in the 40's and 50's like Harry James, Eddie Ducan, Glenn Miller, and Lawrence Welk. I also like western, guitar, and accordion music.
Every day of my life when I get up, I have tried to have a goal for the day or some chore that I want to accomplish and during the day I try to complete that task. When I'm done for the day or I have completed that task, I feel good about resting.
Reed Shepherd was a good friend of mine. I use to go deer hunting with him and he got me coming to church on a regular bases. He was the Elders quorum president and he wanted me to be his 1st counselor. I had a lot of respect for him and his concern for me.
I feel that a man and woman should be judged by the family that they have raised. I'm not too excited or nervous about death. I feel that it's got to happen and I can take it. For my funeral I'm not too fussy about what is said or the music that is played. I would like to be remembered for raising one of the best families in this community.
I would like to tell my grandchildren to either get a job or create a job. Have something to work for and have a goal in life and work towards it. Never give up, but accomplish whatever it is that your setting out to do or to get. I would encourage all my grandsons to go on missions and my granddaughters to marry young men that will take them to the temple.
HOLIDAYS
CHRISTMAS I always looked forwards to Christmas. We always got together at Christmas time as a family and it was usually in our home. In my early life it was celebrated with my dad, step mother, brother, and sisters. The tree decorations were usually popcorn that was strung on the tree and some candles. Our Christmas dinner always consisted of either chicken or turkey. We didn't get much for Christmas. When I was 12, my brother and I got a bicycle that we really enjoyed.
When I got married we still continued the tradition of getting together as a family for Christmas. One thing that I have always enjoyed at Christmas is carrot pudding.
I took a liking to History. I have been eager to learn more about our country. I like to watch the news and movies that tell about the events that went on in World War I & II.
World War I started the year I was born 1914. We had a dictator that ruled Germany and he wanted to be the dictator and King of the World. Kaiser invaded all the little countries and took them over. He then went in and took over France and dominated it as well. He kept sinking some of the USA's ships on the ocean. At that time we were furnishing food and war equipment for France and England. Those two countries were partners in the war. England knew that they would be the next country that Kaiser would want to invade. England decided to help France. The USA decided to help as well, they knew that if they didn't, they would have to fight the battle alone. A short time later Germany was defeated.
In Spanish Fork when the war was won, they made a dummy (representing Kaiser) and put him in a casket and burned it on Spanish Fork main street.
In 1939 World War II started. Hitler decided he wanted to dominate the world too. We got into that war after France had been completely licked. Germany conquered all of France and was preparing to invade England. God gave the English enough help that they didn't dare tackle it. Instead they decided to conquer Russia, that was a big mistake. They made great progress until they were fighting in the third largest city in Russia. It was winter time, they had never experienced a winter like that. The ground was so muddy and greasy that they couldn't advance. This gave the Russians a chance to build up their armies and drive the German's back. The German's were licked in Russia. Not only did the clang German's start a fight in Russia, but they started to fight in Africa as well. Hitler had three fronts that he was trying to dominate. Europe, Africa, and the Russian front. If he would have had any sense he would have fought and conquered one at a time instead of trying all three of them at once. That was his down fall.
Carl was in that war serving with Patten. Patten wasn't afraid to do anything. He wasn't in the first wave that went into this country. He came with the second group. He was in the artillery group. The war ships did the shelling of the shore first, then the artillery came in and set up their bases. They were shooting the big 105 millimeter canons. Most of the time they would lob the shells over and drop them on their targets. One time they were fighting the Germans near Paris, the fog was so thick and it started to snow. They couldn't see where they were firing. The Germans attacked them under these conditions. Instead of lobbing these shells over them, they turned them directly towards them. That was the only way that they knew how to stop them and defeat them.
Carl was noted by his captain that he was the only man that he could send out on patrol or as a scout and still be alive the next morning. One time he was out there all alone and hiding under the trunk of a tree. Two German soldiers came up and put their feet on that log and stood there talking. He said that he was so scared that he couldn't move. He waited and they left.
After the Germans started to retreat, the Americans took over Paris. Carl had two companions he liked, they decided to go to a tavern. As Carl was following these two men into the tavern, a lady came and (it was either his mother or grandmother) stopped him. The other two went ahead, in seconds they were both killed. The tavern had been hit by a mortar shell. This happened several times to him; he was saved by this same woman. He had someone protecting him. He had a mission in life and it wasn't his time to die. He came home and got married and raised five boys. Two went on missions. He was a carpenter, he always helped others. He would even give the shirt off his back, if he thought that it would help someone. He was loved by everyone.
I always felt like Carl had a guarding angel. On one occasion here in Lake Shore, we were having a celebration. At the rodeo Carl decided he wanted to ride a calf. He got on this calf and it threw him off, trampling him and kicking him in the face and the private parts as he went to the ground. Tom Anderson and his wife seen this happen. They said that he was kicked so hard you could tell his teeth and face were broken up and his pelvis area was torn wide open. In seconds a woman appeared, rubbed her hand over his face and body and put him back into his proper state. The Anderson's were the only ones in the crowd that were given that special privilege to see this miracle happen. We took him to the hospital, the doctor told us that he had his pelvis broke and that he would be in the hospital for at least a week. He stayed in the hospital that night. The next morning Carl got out of bed and left before the doctor got back. He was alright. He has had many accidents in his life, but every time his life has been spared.
Carl had the special ability to give a blessing and get more response than any man that I have ever seen. I had more faith in his prayers and blessings than any man that I have known. I feel that he had special help with that too. He died at the age of 78 with cancer.